Cure
by Redlance-ck
Summary: Short Story. Brooke figures it out. Sam/Brooke


**Title:** Cure

**Prompt: **Christmas

**Rating:** G

**Word Count: **960

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Ryan Murphy, I'm just borrowing them so they can do my bidding for a while.

**A/N:** Yeah, um… this one wouldn't stop…

**Summary: **Brooke figures it out.

* * *

She had never seen anything quite like Sam at Christmas time. Buoyant exuberance flowed from her like sunshine during the merry season, prompting Brooke to finally ask Lily and Carmen if Sam was always like this. They'd shared a knowing look, answering her with an unequivocal 'yes'. Brooke had watched her with amused shock, never having pegged the reporter as a Christmas floozy, but was oddly pleased to find out she was as giddy as the next non-Ebenezer-type when it came time to put up the decorations.

But what amused her even more, was what happened to Sam after the holidays were over. Brooke could only describe it as 'The Christmas Blues'. The girl became positively mopey, the embodiment of a 17-year-old 4-year-old, when it came time to take down the tree. Whiningly asking why they couldn't leave the decorations up for another day at least. Jane had just rolled her eyes, so Brooke assumed this was the usual procedure also.

"You know," Brooke began, arriving at the doorway to Sam's room a few weeks after what the brunette called 'the ritualistic destroying of joy', otherwise know as 'de-Christmasing the house'. "This whole Christmas thing is actually kind of cute. Weird. But cute." Sam's eyes moved from the spot on the ceiling as she shifted so her upper body was lifted off the bed, resting on her forearms.

"What are you rambling about?" Sam cocked an eyebrow as Brooke made her way into the darkened room.

"This 'Christmas blues' thing you've got going. It's…" She came to a stop in front of Sam, arms crossed behind her back, tilting her head to the side as she looked down at the reporter. "Pretty adorable." Her lips curved in a small smile at Brooke's words. "But what's the deal?" Sam's smiled widened and she dropped her gaze, suddenly and charmingly engrossed in the bedspread. "Your mom says you're always like this, but that this year you're kind of…" Brooke lifted her right hand from behind her back and tilted it from side to side. "More crazy." Sam laughed, but didn't look up.

"Well…" Sam said taking a breath, her fingers picking absently at the quilt. "There was something I had been planning to do over Christmas, but I chickened out." Brooke was sure she felt her ears perk up, a smile of her own breaking through her attempt to hold it back.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Brooke swayed on the spot, rocking back and forth on her heels and then swivelling her hips. Sam lifted her head, her eyes flitting down to Brooke's feet, then back up again before rolling in what appeared to be exasperation.

"Doesn't matter. I guess I'll have to wait until next Christmas."

"Sam! That's 11 months away!" Brooke laughed, lifting a leg to nudge Sam in the knee with her own. "Tell me. What did it involve?" Her expression and tone were teasing and playful in a way that made Sam helpless against her smile, it fuelled it in its attempt to engulf her face completely. Finally, after much lip chewing and eye roving, she looked up at Brooke through long lashes.

"What if I told you that my Christmas blues had everything to do with a severe mistletoe deficiency?" Brooke blinked. And then beamed, her heart growing wings and fluttering wildly in her chest. She let out her next breath as a sound of relief.

"I'd reply by telling you that I'm really glad my childhood detective phase paid off and I was right about this." Sam frowned slightly but her grin remained, goofiness pulling at its corners.

"About what?" She asked, insides bubbling with an excitement that appeared out of nowhere but that she understood the moment it arrived. She watched as Brooke's hands dropped from behind her back, saw the odd shaped object she was holding in one of them and felt her heart begin to hammer.

"The mistletoe deficiency." Brooke's smile transformed into a smirk as she moved forward with predatory grace and slid onto the bed. Slowly placing a leg on either side of Sam, her eyes never leaving the brown ones before her, that widened, every so slightly. She lifted her right hand and placed it on Sam's shoulder to brace herself as she leaned forward, a thrill going through her as she felt the brunette's hand unconsciously settle on her hip to help steady her. She saw Sam swallow as she dipped her head. Felt her breath hitch as she brushed her lips against a sensitive ear. Even caught a peripheral glimpse of her eyes rolling into the back of her head when she began to whisper, huskily, into it. "I think I found a way to help." And she pulled back, her insides buzzing as Sam's eyes remained closed for a few seconds more. When they opened, Brooke watched the other girl's gaze travel up along the length of her arm, leaving her skin tingling. Sam was forced to tilt her head back slightly, in order to see Brooke's hand hovering over her.

And the mistletoe she held in it.

Sam's lips stretched in the wide, toothy smile that so loved to steal Brooke's breath. Mere seconds before Brooke leaned in again and stole the brunette's in a kiss that cured far more than the Christmas blues. She left a trail of fire as her fingers ran from Sam's shoulder to her neck and then tangled themselves in thick dark hair, pulling her closer. And Sam, still smiling like an idiot, pushed herself into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around Brooke. The blonde sighed as the kiss continued, her free hand moving to cup Sam's cheek.

And the mistletoe drifted to the floor. Forgotten.


End file.
